Ikea thinks smaller: Where its new stores are going globally

Ikea now operates more than 650 locations across 32 countries. (Source: Supplied)

By Uyen Duong May 11, 2026

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As cities become denser and consumers prioritise convenience, Ikea is changing the retail model that drove its growth. The company, long associated with large-format stores in suburban areas, is now expanding smaller formats into city centres and local communities.

From around 375 stores located mainly outside urban areas in 2020, Ikea has expanded to more than 650 locations across 32 countries. Customers can now access home furnishing advice, kitchen planning services and selected products closer to where they live.

As consumer behaviour shifted, the company began testing new retail formats. Ikea’s first city-centre store in Paris, La Madeleine, marked an early step in that strategy.

“Opening La Madeleine was really a test lab for us,” said Thibault Tabard, market expansion manager for Ikea France. “We had decades to perfect our classic stores, but we still had to figure out how city-centre stores could operate.”

Following Paris, Ikea expanded downtown stores across London, Tokyo, Stockholm and other cities, while New York remains part of its expansion plans. The company said consumers responded positively to smaller stores with selected product ranges closer to where they live.

The transition has also presented challenges. Ikea said customers wanted more products available for immediate pickup at urban stores, while layouts needed to remain easy to navigate.

“We thought customers would prefer a free-flow layout in city stores without arrows,” said Javier Quiñones, global commercial manager at Ingka Group. “But we quickly realised we were wrong.”

In response, Ikea has continued testing smaller-format stores for towns and suburban communities. These sites are often located in retail parks where consumers already shop regularly, allowing Ikea visits to become part of shopping routines.

Although the stores are one-tenth the size of traditional formats, they offer more than one-quarter of Ikea’s product range for immediate pickup. After initial trials in the UK, Poland and the US, Ikea is expanding the format with 20 additional stores in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Canada.